Archive for the ‘mike axisa’ tag

Quick thoughts on the Tyler Clippard for Yunel Escobar deal that went down Wednesday night.

Bummed to see Clippard go. I got a chance to play golf with him a few years back and he’s a real nice guy. Nothing but a gentleman on the course, just a guy who liked playing golf in his spare time. The thing that made me laugh the most from the game was his telling us that he rides his bike to the ball park every night … and then back home at midnight, through some rather sketchy streets around the stadium, all the way back to the townhouse he shared with Drew Storen on capitol hill. If you’ve never been to Oakland’s stadium … well lets say I hope Clippard doesn’t try to ride his bike home at night from there.

Does Clippard get a shot at the closer role in Oakland? Probably not; Sean Doolittle took over for the deposed Jim Johnson last year and did pretty well. Very well actually: a 0.7 whip and a 1.71 FIP. Not bad.

I tend to agree with the Mike Axisa CBSsports.com analysis posted here; Nats have some interesting flexibility now with Escobar. He could be the 2B starter (making the transition from SS to 2B is an easy one for a quality infielder). He could enable the team to move Ian Desmond and have Escobar be the starting shortstop until Trea Turner is ready (or proves himself not to be up to the task … Escobar is signed through 2016 with an easy 2017 option).

Is this a good trade for the Nationals? Clippard was a vital and valuable part of the bullpen; is he replaceable? Not easily. The Nats have shed two of their three best relievers from last year with no real replacements (no, i’m not counting Heath Bell) other than internal promotions. Perhaps this means we’ll see a couple of middle relief veteran signings now. I think this also could mean Blake Treinen‘s being called into reliever duty instead of being in the Syracuse rotation. Who pitches the 8th inning now? Aaron Barrett?

Even given Clippard’s value, his escalating salary did mean he made more sense as a closer for another team. Maybe that happens in Oakland regardless. Or maybe Billy Beane keeps on dealing and moves Clippard again. But the Nats plugged a hole for now and potentially for the next two years as well; a price that had to be paid for what they acquired. And lets be honest; it is probably easier to find a good right handed reliever than it is to find a MLB-average offensive shortstop.

Escobar’s offensive numbers were a tick below MLB average last year; an improvement over the presumed person he’s deposing in Danny Espinosa. What’s more of an unknown is his defense; he was excellent in 2013, awful in 2014 in terms of range factors. Since you don’t need nearly the range at 2nd, i’m guessing he’s going to be an excellent defender there by default. So to this effect, he fits the Rizzo mold. Good defender, decent offensive player.

The knock on Escobar, of course, is character. It stems from an incident in 2009 while with Toronto when he put the words “Tu ere maricon” on his eyeblack. As I noted in the comments section, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt here, believing that the media took one of many possible interpretations of this common latin insult (and hopefully not the one he meant) and ran with it … suddenly the message and the story that remains to this day is that he used an “anti-gay slur” and that Escobar is “homophobic.” Or perhaps not: according to a wikipedia guide of Spanish profanity, the term maricon as used by Cubans in particular most likely means exactly what he’s accused of saying. I dunno; what’s the statue of limitations for making a poor decision?

Do people really think Detwiler is heading to the bullpen? Photo: Haraz Ghanbari/AP via federalbaseball.com

By now we’ve all seen the reports; the Nats have been to Puerto Rico to scoutJavier Vazquez, the veteran starter who inexplicably “retired” after an effective 2011 at the age of 34. According to Adam Kilgore‘s initial reports and as stated in other places on line Vazquez is apparently hitting the mid 90s in winter ball and is looking to possibly re-start his pro career. Kilgore reports that the Nats are looking to offer Vazquez a minor league contract with an “out clause” if he’s not assigned to the Majors by a certain date.

This out clause arrangement seems to make perfect sense for the Nats. We have a full rotation, we need starter depth in AAA, and Vazquez is a risk having been out of the league for a year, despite how good he looks in a winter ball league that rates at best at being a “weak AAA” level of talent.

What I don’t understand in some of these reports is the claim that the team would love to sign Vazquez and then drop Ross Detwiler to the bullpen. Mike Axisa from MLBtraderumors stated as much in his report and I got into it with a NY-based blogger who keeps stating that Detwiler “belongs” in the bullpen without really giving much in the way of proof.

Here’s what Detwiler did in 2012: 10-8, 3.40 ERA and a 1.22 whip in 164 1/3 innings and 27 starts. He posted a 117 ERA+, good for 12th in the league among qualified starters. He’s a lefty who averages 92-93 and can reach 96 in a division with a number of teams with lefty power (especially Philadelphia). And he saved the Nats bacon by giving the team its best post-season start in the NLCS. He is still cheap (he’s first year arbitration eligible this year), meaning he provides great value for the dollar as a starter.

Why exactly would the Nats be looking to replace Detwiler in the rotation?? And why would the team be looking at a reclamation project like Vazquez to be his replacement? Vazquez’s 2011 numbers were good (13-11, 3.69 era, 1.183 whip) but not earth shattering (106 ERA+ in 2011 after getting hammered in New York the year prior). Detwiler was a significantly better pitcher by this measure in 2012 than Vazquez was in 2011. If you had the 12th best pitcher (by ERA+) in the league installed as your 5th starter, why exactly would you be looking to replace him?

Then there’s the “personnel issues” involved with Vazquez at this point. Why did he walk away from the game? Wouldn’t you be concerned about his committment levels and his drive at this point? Why would a team want to give him anything other than a non-guaranteed deal?

Yes, I realize the team’s bullpen, as it is currently constructed, is light on left-handed relievers. We’ll ignore for the time being the fact that our existing RHPs out there mostly have good lefty splits. If you go on the assumption that the team “needs” another left handed reliever, there are certainly better ways to fill that spot than by wasting an excellent starter by putting him in the pen. Any statistical measure of player value will show you that even a medicore starter is usually “worth” more than even an excellent closer; sometimes FAR more. A quick proof: Craig Kimbrel‘s 2012 season as the Braves closer was epic and historical, and was worth a 3.6 fWAR. That would only have qualified him for 25th in the league, tied with Kyle Lohse and just ahead of our own Jordan Zimmermann. And that was for one of the best reliever seasons ever seen. Rafael Soriano was an excellent closer last year and only had an fWar of 1.2, a more typical closer number, which would have been about 77th in the league in fWAR, around what Bruce Chen and Edinson Volquez provided in 2012.

In the end, it may not matter; if Vazquez is coming back there’s plenty of teams that make much more sense for him to join that would give him a guaranteed MLB deal and a guaranteed rotation spot. Any of the bottom 4-5 teams in my Rotation Rankings would make sense. Returning to Miami would make too much sense, based on where he pitched last and proximity to his home in Puerto Rico. But it bugs me just the same that people don’t use some common sense when looking at what Detwiler gave the team last year and assuming that he is better served in the bullpen to make way for a lesser pitcher. I’ll fully admit; I have not always been a Detwiler fan. But after what he showed the team in 2012, I think you stick with him in 2013 no matter what.